Bag support for filling machines



March 14, 1950 Filed Feb. 11, 1946 W. R. PETERSON BAG SUPPORT FOR FILLING MACHINES 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 W Q-M ATTORNEYS Mud: 14, 1950 I w. R. PET RQON 0,768

BAG SUPPORT FOR FILLING MACHINES Filed Feb. 11, 1946 :5 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

TORNEYS w; R. PETERSON 2,500,768

BAG SUPPORT FOR FILLING MACHINES March 14, 1950 Filed Feb. 11, 194$v 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 I I I I I I I l l I I I I l ll IH l u INVENTOR. VVz [1mm [21 610300 MVM ATTORNEYS Patented Mar. 14, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE BAG SUPPORT FOR FILLING MACHINES William It. Peterson, Oswegd, N. Y., assignor' to St. Regis Paper Company, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Original application July 22, 1942,. Serial No. 451,883. Divided and this applicationFebruary 11, 194.6, Serial No. 646,798

7 Claims.

My invention relates to a novel bag support arrangement for a filling machine.

The usual automatic filling machine comprises a support upon which the bottom of a bag rests during the filling operation. In order to adapt the machine for bags having different lengths or for those which are formed from different materlal's", it'becomes necessary to change the elevation or height of the bag support. To this end, in accordance with the present invention, the bag support is suspended or mounted in a novel manner and, more particularly, the suspending or mounting means may comprise a vertical screw adapted to be rotated manually in either direction to thereby elevate or lower the bag support.

Various other objects, advantages and features' of my invention will become apparent from the following detailed description.

My invention resides in the bag support, adjust'able features and arrangements of the character hereinafter described and claimed.

This application is a division of application Serial No. 451,883, filed July 22, 1942, which has matured into Patent No. 2,408,225.

For an understanding of my invention and for an illustration of one of the forms thereof, reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of one embodiment of the invention, with parts in section and with parts removed for clarity or" illustration;

Fig. 2 is an isometric elevational view of the apparatus shown in Fig. l;

Fig. 3 is a partial front elevational view of the apparatus shown in Fig. 1; and

Fig. 4 is a horizontal sectional view, partly in elevation, taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

The apparatus embodying the invention is mounted upon suitable framework, some of which is shown as at 20 in Figure 1 and some of which omitted in order to more clearly disclose the operating mechanism. The bag filling apparatus comprises a hopper 2i which may be connected with any suitable source of supply of cement or other material to be packaged. At the bottom of the hopper, there is a propeller housing 22 in which there is a constantly rotating propeller 23 mounted on a horizontal axis. At the right of the housing, as shown in Figure 1, there is a substantially horizontal discharge opening or passage-ZI normally in alinement with a filling spout 25; The propeller is normally in continuous operation during the use of the mechanism, but discharge of material is cut off when desired by a suitable cut-cu slide or gate 26 which is operated by a rod 21. The housing 22 is provided with a slideway or groove which is open at the bottom and closed at the sides and top. The gate 251s movable in this slideway. As indicated at 22a, the upper end of the slide'way opens into the propeller housing 22.

A double armed scale beam 28 is fulcrumed at 29 and carries a suitable weight 30 fixed to the scale beam, as shown at 3|. It will be seen that the weight is rigidly fastened to" the scale beam and, therefore, gives the scale beam a pendulum action. The front end of the scale beam is provided with pivots 32 for a load support, Fig. 2. A rigid stop member 33, Fig. 1, projects from the frame over the rear end of the scale beam and an adjustable stop screw 34 mounted in the scale beam arms limits the height to which the rear end of the scale beam may rise and the frame member Zil as shown in Figure 1 limits the lowering of the rear end of the scale beam.

The load support comprises a top cross-piece 35 which rests upon the scale beam pivots 32. Depending from cross-piece 35, there are hollow supporting columns 33. The lower ends of the columns have attached thereto a bracket 31 to which a U-shaped member 38 is pivoted at 39'. The U-shaped member 38 has attached thereto a bag shield 40 adapted to surround the sides and rear of a bag B being filled upon the apparatus. A spring 4! normally holds the shield 40 in upright position. as shown in Figures 1 and 2.

A discharge pusher rod 42 is supported at its .front end upon a roller 43 and normally clears but contacts on movement, with shield 40, being operated to tilt the shield and discharge the bag at the proper time after completion of the bagfilling operation. The bracket 37 has attached to the rear side thereof an arm 44 which is connected to a portion of the frame by a check rod 45 which operates parallel with the portion of the scale beam between pivots 29 and 32"so as to keep the load supporting rods 36- in upright position.

Beneath cross-piece 35, there is an adjusting cross-piece 5B which may be raised or lowered by a screw 5! operable by a handle 52. There'- spective ends of cross-piece work in slots in hollow rods 36 and have attached thereto rods 53 which are within the respective hollow tubes 35. The lower ends of rods 53 have attached thereto; through slots in tubes 35, a bracket 54. A bottom support for the bag is pivoted" to bracket 54 at 56 (see Figure 3). The rear'of'the bottom; sup ort" 55" is provided with a lug" 511';

which normally rests upon the bracket 54 and maintains the bottom support in the position in which it is shown in Figure 1.

A cross-piece 58 is secured at 59 to tubes 36 and the filling tube 25 is secured to and supported by cross-piece 58. Extending forward from the cross-piece 58, there is an arm 50. Bag clamp 6! is pivoted at 62 to arm 60. The clamp is provided with a tail piece 63 to which there is attached a spring 54 which normally presses the clamp down toward the filling tube.

Mounted on the front of the hopper, there is a bracket 65 (see Figure 1) to which there is pivoted a clamp releasing lever 66 (see Figure l, 2 and 4). On the end of the lever 66, there is a roller 61 in position to engage the tail piece 63 of the bag clamp. An arm extends from lever 65 and is operated by a rod 69, Fig. 2, the movement of which is controlled in a manner to be described hereafter.

The pivot carried by bracket 65 for the support of lever 66 also supports a trip handle Hi from which there extends an arm 1! engaging a con necting rod 12. The lower end of the connecting rod is provided with a fork '53 which straddles a pin in a trip arm 74 on the control unit housing, 15. A spring 16 normally pulls arm id to the right, as viewed in Figure 1, against an adjustable stop H.

In my aforesaid application Serial No. 451,883, there is a complete disclosure of the various operations which are performed in connection with the bag-filling operation. These may be summarized briefly as follows: The housing l contains clutch mechanism which comprises clutch wheel and a mechanical arrangement adapted to be driven thereby. The clutch wheel is rotated constantly by a suitable source of power 18 which drives a belt or chain '19 connected to said clutch wheel. The apparatus being in the stop position, the shut-off slide or gate 26 is closed. At this time, the valve of a valve bag B is associated with the filling spout 25. Thereupon, the trip handle 'lil is moved downward momentarily to the dotted line position thereof as shown whereby, through the connecting rod 12, the trip arm M is swung in a counter-clockwise direction to thereby connect the aforesaid mechanical arrangement to the rotating clutch wheel. This initiates a cycle of automatic operation of the bag filling apparatus. Immediately thereafter, the rod 69 is lowered and, as a result, the spring 64 becomes effective to cause the clamp 5| to clamp the bag upon the filling spout 25. Substantially simultaneously, the rod 27 is moved downwardly with resultant opening of the gate 26 and consequent discharge of material into the bag B by the constantly rotating propeller 23. The bag B, during the filling operation, is supported by the filling spout 25 and the bottom thereof rests on the support 55. Eventually, as the filling operation continues, the scale beam 28 moves clockwise and moves screw 88 into engagement with trip arm Bi with consequent movement of the latter in a counter-clockwlse direction. As a result, under the control of a spring mechanism disposed within the housing 75, the gate 26 is moved to closed position. Thereafter, while the mechanism in housing 15 is in motion for a predetermined spaced interval, the filled bag B remains positioned as shown on the drawing to permit dissipation of the air pressure which was established therein by the propeller 23 and avoid the pull of dust laden air that would otherwise be discharged through the valve opening of the bag upon removal thereof from the filling tube. At the end near the expiration of this interval, the bag clamp (H is opened and, in response to movement of the rod 42, the bag shield 40 is tilted in a clockwise direction, Figs. 1 and 2, to discharge the filled bag from the support 55.

The particular mounting of the bottom support 55 for the bag B allows of the accurate adjustment of the height of the support, without suspending the operation of the filling apparatus, to give the degree of support desired, both during filling and discharging. In response to rotation of the screw 5| by handle 52, the support 55 may be positioned at exactly the right distance from the filling tube to give the necessary support to obviate tearing of the top of the bag where it is threaded onto the filling tube and at the same time avoid holding the bag bottom so high that there is any interference with proper filling. When shield 4a is moved by pusher 42, it shoves the bag oil? of the filling tube while the bottom of the bag rests upon the horizontal bag support. After the bag moves far enough so that its center of gravity is in front of pivot 53, the bottom support tilts with the bag and allows the bag to slide off. More particularly, with the arrangement disclosed, the handle 52 is readily accessible to the operation of the machine. The provision of the screw 5i permits accurate and small scale adjustment of the support o thereby properly locate the position to be taken by the bottom of the bag. Moreover, the adjusting screw 5| because of the short pitch in the thread, is self-locking and this maintains the support 55 in any desired position in which it is set.

Alongitudinal groove 5m (see Fig. 2) similar to a keyway is provided in screw 5| which provides a cutting tapping edge which tends to clean out the thread in bar 59 and keep it free so that the handle 52 is easily moved even though the unit operates in dust-laden air.

While the invention has been described with respect to a certain particular preferred example which gives satisfactory results, it will be understood by those skilled in the art after understanding the invention, that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention and it intended therefore in the appended claims to cover all such changes and modifications.

What is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. In combination in a valve bag filling device, an approximately horizontal filling tube adapted to enter the valve of a bag, a pivoted support for the bottom of a bag being filled through said spout, manually operable means located above the filling tube, and a linkage for operatively interconnecting the manually operable means with said bottom support for adjusting the distance of said support from said tube, said manually operable means being operable during use of the apparatus.

2. In combination in a valve bag filling apparatus, a weighing beam, parallel tubes mounted upon the beam and held in vertical position, a substantially horizontal filling tube mounted in fixed position upon said parallel tubes, rods slidable vertically within the tubes, a bracket attached to said rods, a support for the bottom of a bag being filled through the filling tube, a pivotal mounting for the support upon the bracket, and means to simultaneously adjust the vertical position of the rods with respect to the parallel tubes.

3. In bag-filling apparatus, a weighing beam, depending means secured to one end of said weighing beam, a support for a bag, means adjustable in a vertical direction for securing said support to said depending means, and a vertical screw positioned in close proximity to said end of the weighing beam and coactable with said adjustable means to change the vertical position of said support.

4. In bag-filling apparatus, a weighing beam, spaced members secured to and depending from said weighing beam, depending rods mounted adjacent said members, respectively, and being vertically adjustable as a unit with respect thereto, a bag support secured to said rods, and means positioned approximately at the level of said weighing beam and coactable with said rods to change the vertical position of said support.

5. In bag-filling apparatus, a weighing beam,

spaced members secured to and depending from 7,

said weighing beam, depending rods mounted substantially parallel with said members, respectively, and being vertically adjustable as a unit with respect thereto, a bag support secured to said rods, and means comprising a vertical screw positioned approximately at the level of said weighing beam and coactable with said rods to change the vertical position of said support.

6. In combination in a valve bag filling apparatus, a weighing beam, parallel tubes mounted upon the beam and held in vertical position, a substantially horizontal filling tube mounted in fixed position upon said parallel tubes, rods slidable vertically within the tubes, a bracket attached to said rods, a support for the bottom of a bag being filled through the filling tube, a pivotal mounting for the support upon the bracket, and means comprising a vertical screw positioned approximately at the level of said weighing beam for simultaneously adjusting the vertical position of the rods with respect to the parallel tubes.

7. In combination, in a valve bag filling apparatus, a weighing beam, parallel tubes mounted upon the beam and held in vertical position, a substantially horizontal filled tube mounted in fixed position upon said parallel tubes, rods slidable vertically within the tubes, a bracket attached to said rods adjacent the lower end thereof, a support for the bottom of a bag being filled through the filling tube, a pivotal mounting for the support upon the bracket, a cross-piece attached to said rods adjacent the upper end thereof, and a journaled vertical screw disposed in threaded relation with respect to said crosspiece.

WILLIAM R. PETERSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,561,588 Bates Nov. 17, 1925 1,995,140 Andreas Mar. 19, 1935 2,064,245 Dittmar Dec. 15, 1936 2,101,232 Augustin Dec. '7, 1937 2,173,479 Hartman et al. Sept. 19, 1939 

